


Cozy Writing & Sketchy Lighting

by paperandinkandsouls



Category: Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 05:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18492529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperandinkandsouls/pseuds/paperandinkandsouls
Summary: A little one shot involving a tired Cath, a power outage, and an emotional-support Levi





	Cozy Writing & Sketchy Lighting

Cath was typing at warp speed, spilling out sentences as if there was an endless supply. Baz and Simon simmered on the screen; not to sappy, but not to harsh. Perfect.

She stopped writing to shake out her hands. After writing for too long, her wrists got sore, and Wren always joked she was going to get carpal tunnel. Cath only smiled and said that she always knew Baz would be the death of her. 

“Levi? Where did you go?” Cath spoke into her empty dorm room. Levi was prone to being here often, and if he wasn’t there, he always made sure that Cath’s anxious mind knew where he was. 

“It’s not abusive if it’s my idea.” He told Cath, after she voiced her complaints that she felt stalkery. “Besides, if someone ever kidnaps me, we have the upper hand.” Cath had laughed at the thought of someone kidnapping Levi: black masks trying to outrun his lanky body, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he would be smiling while running.

“Levi, come here. I need to know if this sucks or… doesn’t.” She spoke in a wheedling voice, hoping to convince Levi to walk back into the room. He was probably in the hallway, schmoozing with the other girls: not flirting exactly, but “uplifting them.” Cath had felt jealous at first, but Levi’s eyes portrayed the honest love held only for Cath.

Speaking of, Levi waltzed into her room, flopping onto her bed beside her, and immediately taking her laptop from her lap and setting it on the desk beside her. His wry smile created lines that seemed to go on all the way to his hairline: a mighty distance. Cath, despite herself, smiled back, and resumed her usual position, head on Levi’s chest, and legs tangled up with his. 

“How many hours have you spent writing today?” Murmured Levi. When they were together like this, his voice rarely rose above a whisper. 

Cath, after looking at the clock, which read 6:00, responded, “Three hours off and on. I took a tea break halfway through though.” Cath gestured to the empty mug, depicting Penelope sitting on a pile of books. A fan had made it, and it had quickly become her favorite tea mug.

“Well, I think it’s time you stopped writing, and started reading.” Levi whispered in her ear, stroking her sides with gentle, lingering fingers.

Cath sighed, and looked at his eyes, judging which kind of reading he meant. Sometimes reading fanfiction actually involved the use of her vocal chords...well, not that the other kind didn’t, sometimes. Cath decided he meant the kind with computers, and snagged her PC from the desk.

Sitting up, much to Levi’s chagrin, she opened up the laptop, and selected the fic she had most recently been reading to him. 

“Where were we…?” she asked, knowing Levi would illuminate to her exactly where they had left of. 

“Baz had just taken his first swing at Simon, and Simon had gazed at him with ‘fury simmering beneath his very bones’” Levi said.

As they settled into their usual position, Levi’s hands around Cath’s waist, and Cath’s heart around her stomach, Levi retracted his hands and pulled out her hair, effectively loosening her glasses. He plucked them from the bed, and set them on the desk beside them, fanning out her hair. Nuzzling his nose in it. Breathing her in. 

Cath took a steadying breath: it was just Levi. Trustworthy, loyal, gentle, Levi. She began reading.

As the minutes wore on, Cath’s eyes got sleepier and sleepier, despite it only being 7:00. Levi’s hands roamed: not in a particularly evocative way, just comforting. Stable, like his hands would never leave. She hoped they never would.

Cath had just finished the last sentence, when the lights started flickering. She jumped back into Levi, and he held her close, telling her everything was fine.

“It was just some faulty little blip, it’s fine sweetheart.” He said, and she started to relax when it happened again. 

This time, she fully jumped up, and Levi fell back, sighing. It was so rare that he could do this with Cath, and now the moment was over, far too soon.

Cath stepped into the hallway, amongst all the other girls stepping out to see what was going on. Whispers traveled up and down the hallway. Nobody seemed properly concerned enough, in Cath’s opinion, but their nonchalant attitude did ease her worries a bit. She closed the room to her dorm, when the lights flickered again, this time not coming on for a whole minute. 

Cath felt weird and teary. What was wrong with her? Was she really so insane that a freak power outage was enough to set her off? Levi, being Levi, sensed something was wrong, and told Cath to “C’mere” and she willingly obliged.

“What’s wrong?” He said to the back of her head.

“Good question…” Cath thought. Out loud she told him the truth.

“I don’t really know, I’ve just been weird about power outages for a while now.”

“How do you manage during storms?” He asked.

“During storms I know the reason. The factual, evidence based reason.”

These words made Levi snort, but he quickly regained his composure. 

“Well, Cather, I am sure there is a logical reason for this power outage: evidence based, in fact.” She could feel him smiling: a lower wattage than usual, but still.

“I think it’s because after Mom left…” Cath buried her face in her knees, face burning. This was so stupid. She was scared of power outages because of something that happened a decade ago? What the fuck was wrong with her?” 

“Go on.” Levi said.

“Well, after she left, me and Wren went upstairs. She went into the closet and I went to the window. It was just beginning to get dark, and I remember...I remember wishing she was here to tuck us in. Suddenly the lights went out, and Wren...Wren just came running and screaming out of the closet. She was so freaked out, so terrified, so NOT Wren, that all I could do was hold her. It’s the only time she wasn’t the “strong one.”

Cath didn’t finish the story. How after the lights came on, it felt like they stayed off for another year after. How her and Wren blamed their Mom for the power outage, as stupid as it was. How they blamed their Mom for everything for a long time after.

“Sweetheart…” Levi whispered, burying his face in her hair. There wasn’t really anything to say, and that was fine with Cath. Levi was enough. Emotional-support Levi. The thought made her laugh, a weird gurgle in the back of her throat. 

“What are you laughing at?” Levi asked curiously. Cath shook again, silently laughing and shaking her head.

“Emotional-support Levi.” She whispered, then started gurgling again. 

Levi turned her around so her legs were on his hips, and stared at her. Her heart started beating faster; she loved when he did this, but it was also terrifying. He leaned in, until their foreheads touched.

“You are such a weirdo.” Levi said, and then leaned back into the bed, eyes wide again. 

Cath started laughing again, and this time couldn’t stop. She looked at Levi until he started laughing. He laughed like he danced: loose, and too cool-guy. Like a frat boy in his first college party. Like Levi.

After a few minutes spent laughing, Cath resumed the ‘fanfiction’ position, and fell asleep. The last thing she thought before drifting of was how comfortable her emotional-support Levi was.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fic, so I hoped you all liked it. Would love feedback! <3


End file.
